Lovely Nights || Zhong Chenle

20

This chapter is long so grab your popcorn because you're in for a long ass ride....

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"Ouch." I winced at the sharp pain that shot up my shoulder.

"Sorry." Jennie pouted her lips and removed the pin that had poked me. She carefully marked the pieces that needed to be adjusted on the dress she was making while I stood straight as possible, trying to avoid being poked again. "There." Jennie smiled when she was done. She helped me remove the dress leaving me only in the tank top and safety shorts I had worn underneath my school uniform.

I was sending a text to Suyeon when Jennie opened her closet and tossed a few different outfits on her bed.

"See anything you like?" She asked me while I studied the garments carefully.

"I don't know if I would be comfortable wearing any of these." I answered truthfully. Although everything looked cute, most of the pieces looked far out of my comfort zone.

Jennie frowned. "How about we do your hair and makeup first, then focus on finding you an outfit."

"Okay." I agreed and followed her to the couch. She pulled out a small glittery box containing a variety of makeup products.

Hair? Makeup? Fashion? All things I knew nothing about. Up until now I didn't understand why girls wasted their time and effort to apply layers of makeup nor did I care. But for the first time in my life I wanted to be like them. I wanted to feel beautiful. I wanted to be seen more than just the school loser who always sits in the back.

"Is something wrong?" Jennie questioned me.

"N-No, why do you ask?"

"You seem a little off," She pursed her lips. "Are you sure you are okay?"

"I am." I sighed out. "It was just somewhat of a stressful week, thats all."

She smiled and began to curl my hair. "Well good thing it's Friday. You have the whole weekend to forget about your troubles."

I forced a smile. "Right."

What she didn't know was she was helping me walk straight into all my troubles later tonight. I internally sighed and cleared my mind of everything for just a moment. I asked Jennie for make up tips and she showed me a few of her favorite makeup artist on youtube. She said the best way to learn was to practice on myself by following easy video tutorials. Lisa had stopped by to visit Jennie in her room and was now also helping her choose an outfit for me. It was fun being with them. Although Suyeon and I were friends for almost two years now, we never shared moments like this. She was always busy with cheer practice, Jungwoo, or some school club that I wasn't apart of. Of course I was never mad at her because of it. We lived two completely different lives. She was a social butterfly who loved being involved in everything, meanwhile I liked to spend most my days locked in my room watching dramas or reading.

Although I'd like to think other wise, I don't think we would have ever been friends if she wasn't forced to work on a english project with me our first year of high school. It was very obvious she didn't want to work with me but because she was absent the day everyone chose their partners, she was stuck with me. We always did the work at her home and she would never speak to me unless she was sharing information. The weekend before our project was due, there was a plumbing issue at her home so she asked to work at mines instead. Unfortunately with my parents constantly arguing the last place I wanted to bring anyone to was my home. I decided to take her to Jungwoo's instead.

FLASHBACK

I knocked on the door and was greeted by my aunt. She and my mother were sisters but when our grandmother passed away they had stopped talking for some reason. It wasn't often that I got to see her now so when she did, she was always overly excited.